The NCCES Tourism Outreach and Research Program focuses on providing assistance in community planning efforts for development of sustainable tourism and the maintenance of statistics which represent the economic, social and environmental impacts of tourism in NC. The tourism industry, statewide and in individual counties are targeted for this assistance.

Over the last six years, faculty of the Department of Parks, Recreation, and Tourism Management have worked with the tourism industry and have found that the greatest needs are in the areas of planning, application of standard measures, and basic research techniques which can help the industry to understand growth and change. Many of the industry "mom and pop" operators do not understand planning and do not have a planning model or process which they can apply to their businesses. Staying competitive in a very competitive tourism industry becomes the challenge and to do so standard measures of success must be applied. Business owners seldom include tracking or monitoring measures which will help them understand how well they are doing. Providing them training and guidance in these areas could have significant impact on tourism in NC. By providing training in tourism planning, conducting basic research on economic, social and environmental impacts of tourism in NC, disseminating the results of this research, and teaching industry professionals techniques for monitoring industry change, NC State University could have significant impact on NC tourism.

Much of the basic research has been underway for the last six years. This research needs to be continued and expanded. Statewide and county specific statistics on the tourism industry have been collected over the past six years and are summarized at the county level. Statistics are also presented in regional and statewide summaries. 

Mailings to a sampling of lodging establishments requesting occupancy rates and average daily rates has been conducted over the past five years. Attractions around the state have also been solicited to provide annual visitation numbers. Results from monitoring of attractions and accommodations are provided. 

Training of CES county staff on the tourism assessment statistics are available under the "Education" section of the homepage and under "conferences." This training includes the interpretation and application of the county statistics, trend analysis, and implications for the tourism industry. Training on tourism economic impacts and other standard measures of monitoring the tourism industry are provided to assist CES county staff so that they may provide planning assistance to tourism development efforts.